Did Someone Lose a Dog?
by Bartimus Crotchety
Summary: Scotty has a hunch, it will take an excursion to the edge of Orion space to prove it. Orion slave girls? Kirk is all over it. However, since this is Kirk we are talking about, you can expect a simple rescue mission to get complicated pretty fast!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter Notes:** I guess I will add my words to the chorus of praise for the new Star Trek movie. This movie brought together two of my great loves. Scotty, the great engineer of Star Trek TOS, and Simon Pegg my favorite all time Brit-Com actor. The result was LEGENDARY! The man was only on the screen for a half an hour of the movie but he CHEWED every scene he was in. I have been disappointed by the lack of Scotty centeric fics, I mean Spock/Uhura was great...but geez! (S/U fanatics please don't hurt me!) So I had two random bunnys converge.

**First: **What effect does Scotty's sudden insertion to the rest of the crew have in the long term. I mean BAM! this bloke I brought with me is your new Chief Engineer! A bit sudden, right? And what makes this hyperactive genius tick?

**Secondly:** What did happen to Admiral Archer's prize Beagle?

I have a seriously dark sense of humor, so if things get a bit twisted you'll have to over look it please. I intend to enjoy myself with these characters, I hope you join me.

**Bart **

* * *

**Star Trek 2009**

**Did Someone Lose a Dog?**

James Tiberius Kirk lay on his bed in the Captain's quarters.

He had been on the bridge for twenty-one hours straight before Bones came in with that familiar scowl and threatened to use his power as CMO to reduce Kirk to the rank of Ensign if he did not go and rest immediately. If it were any other doctor, Kirk would brush it off. Bones, however, would make good on this threat out of pure spite.

He reluctantly left the bridge in Spock's capable hands.

It was not that he had no trust in his First Officer, Spock was the most capable XO in the fleet, it was that Kirk loved being the captain of Enterprise so much that not being on the bridge felt like a piece of himself was missing. He had taken to the captain's chair as if he was born to it, in some ways he realized he had been.

George Kirk once again crossed his mind.

That man was a tough act to follow. One of the main reasons James did not flock to Starfleet as soon as he became eligible, was he knew he would have expectations others did not face just because of his name. Kirk knew he would hear stories of his father, his bravery, his sacrifice, his intelligence in the face of certain death. Those things meant nothing to James, they never had. How do you explain to people that the person whom they held up as an icon, as a standard, is someone that you resent for leaving you fatherless?

After a lackadaisical academy career, something had shifted during the Nero affair. Somewhere deep inside of James he felt the awakening of purpose, of a desire to make the Kirk name mean something more than martyr. Christopher Pike, in a parting shot that first meeting in a bar, challenged Kirk to do better than even his father had accomplished. That challenge stuck with him all that night, and had put him on the shuttle to Starfleet the next day, but he really did not think it was possible.

That was before he met this Enterprise crew, after which, his desire to make the name of Kirk mean something more now seemed reachable.

Enterprise had the best Nav officer in the fleet, even if the little guy was barely old enough to shave and had the excited manner of a puppy dog. This kid was capable of calculations that beat the computer, and did not seem to understand he should be cracking under the pressure.

They were in possession of the most brilliant helmsman that Kirk had ever laid eyes on, a silent, competent warrior whose calm demeanor belied a deadly determination. (Fencing? Yeah right. Tell that to those two Romulans!)

There was an officer at the Com who could interpret more dialects than James even knew existed. She was capable of clearing up a signal so degraded the ship computer could make little else but static, and let's face it, was extremely beautiful and perfect, outside of her horrible taste in men that is.

By his side, Kirk had his best friend, who was an extraordinarily competent doctor and wiseass, who deflated him and looked after him in more ways than just physical, but whom believed in his potential more than anyone ever had.

Down In the bowels of this best ship in the fleet, Kirk had a hyperactive scarily intelligent Scottish gent, who customarily kept the ship running faster than her manufacturing specs, and had a penchant of always coming through in the clutch. That man never allowed the mood to get too maudlin if he could help it.

The Enterprise' real advantage, however, was that pointy-eared enigma seated to Kirk's right at the science station. That man was the real reason Kirk could dream of the day when the name Enterprise would become part of Starfleet lore.

It was hard for Kirk to believe that he and Spock had nearly killed one another those first few days. In that one memorable incident with Spock's hand around his throat, pinned against a console he had questioned if this time line would ever see the friendship the elder Spock had spoken of, but since then he had never had cause to doubt it.

Once Spock had stepped down as captain and taken a supporting role, Kirk and he had clicked into place like a machine. They now knew each other so well Kirk only had to look over and see one eyebrow raised to know what was tracking through that labyrinthine mind. That Vulcan had become his right arm, more of a co-captain than first officer, and dare he say it, friend. If he wanted someone to give him a moral argument and keep him grounded, he had Bones, if he needed someone to take his wild hunches and actually put practical legs on it to make it work, he had Spock. Together, Kirk was convinced they could defeat any foe.

The Enterprise's young crew had more than its share of naysayers. Elder captains, men with years of experience believed the inexperienced crew had gotten lucky. Deep down they thought they could have taken down Nero if they had been there, but they had no idea of the true threat that insane Romulan posed. It seemed those Captains had convenient amnesia about the six ships with experienced crews and captains that the Narada destroyed before Vulcan imploded. The schism in the fleet was so pronounced, that Starfleet command had taken steps to prove its Flagship, and her crew's capability. The last few months had seen the Enterprise execute mission after mission successfully, but the doubt had persisted so direct measures were required.

The Enterprise was on her way to face one such Captain and his loyal crew in tactical maneuvers, which on the surface, were to test out the new ship's systems. Kirk knew it was a plan by Rear Admiral Pike to shut the old guard up. Pike had told him as much.

"They don't know you, Jim. They do not know your crew, after this exercise, they will have no excuse to doubt. All I need to do is get you there, you'll do the rest."

A sly smile curled James' lips as he recalled the meeting the senior staff had two days ago. The other ship they were facing was the legendary U.S.S. Constellation and its equally daunting captain Commodore Matthew Decker. It turned out that Ensign Chekov had written his dissertation on the Constellation, determining that the commanding officer had some weaknesses in his command style that where exploitable. James had no trouble using that information, some would see it as cheating, but Kirk hated to lose. Spock had quirked an ironic eyebrow over that.

They were due to arrive in the appointed system within a few days.

There was an exchange of communiqués with the Constellation a few hours previous. Decker looked smug as he informed Kirk that he would try to make the Enterprise's defeat fast so he did not keep the kids up past their bedtime. Kirk had shot back that his ship was making best possible time to get to the Vega system and the contest before Decker and his elder crew retired. He then checked the chronometer and remarked that he wasn't sure they could get there in time, even at warp factor 4.1 which was faster than any other ship in the fleet. Decker had smirked before he cut the transmission.

Bones grumbled. "Oh sure, that's only the most accomplished captain and crew in Starfleet, some who've been kicking Klingon ass since before you were in diapers. Let's go ahead and make sure they are well motivated to kick OUR ass, why don't we?" Spock had strolled up hands behind his back. "Commodore Decker was next in line to captain the new Enterprise, he was passed over by an Ensign who started out the on academic probation and had to be smuggled on board before rising to captain. I do not believe that motivation will be at a deficit."

Kirk rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Spock."

_With friends like this, who needs Romulans?_

James had just started to drift off when his door chimed. He was going to say enter but the door slid open and Scotty burst in.

"Captain…I need to talk to ya," the energetic Chief-Engineer blurted, he had an armload of data PADDs which he walked over and dumped on the bed.

"Sure, Scotty, come on in," Kirk murmured with a grimace. He rubbed his eyes trying to focus his mind on the brogue-accented data being spewed at him. Scotty and Chekov both seemed to forget that Kirk's abilities lay in tactical, not in mathematics, and quantum theory.

"Whoa…Whoa Scotty, slower and in plain English, well as close as you get anyway."

Scotty paused a moment to glower at Kirk before he began again. "Okay laddy, the bottom line is… I'm thinking he's still alive!"

Kirk's attention was fully on his engineer. "Who?"

A smile lit up Scotty's face, his blue eyes twinkling. "Admiral Archer's dog, Toby, I think he's still alive."

Kirk just gaped at him. "This is a concern to me…why?"

Scotty looked offended. "The little beastie needs rescuing. Just give me a shuttle and I'll do it me self."

Kirk shook his head to clear the last of the cobwebs. "Oh no you don't, I need my miracle worker down in the engine room if we're going to beat the Constellation."

Scotty looked stricken. "I think Toby may be on a space station near the edge of the Borderlands, it's just a day off our route by shuttle, I know the Andorian who runs tha place. I could go and be back by tha time the maneuvers start. Please Captain, I never ask for annathing, but I need to do this."

Kirk could see the passion in the man's eyes. If he did not allow him to go on this mission, then he would have a distracted Chief Engineer to deal with. This would not do.

"Why is this so important to you, Scotty? I want to know."

Scotty sank down into a chair staring at his hands. "He trusted me, Captain, he followed me to the transporter pad, and then stayed when I told him to. I've never forgotten the look of faith he gave me before he dematerialized, it's haunted me evah since. Not knowing what happened…" his voice trailed off. He looked up; there was desperation in his eyes. "I was trapped on that glacier for close to a year before you stumbled in, I'd still be there if it wasn't for you and that pointy-eared fella, I'll be grateful to the end of me days for that, but I've got to do this, please."

Kirk had always known his strengths lay in his unorthodox methods, decisions he made that no other captain would even consider. He followed his guts and his instincts and trusted Spock and Bones to keep him straight, but allowing his Chief-Engineer to go off by himself after a dog that may or may not be alive, that was pushing it even for him. Scotty had saved all of their lives more than once, he was clever, resourceful, could make advanced Quantum calculations that stumped even Spock, and could diagnose a warp engine just by listening to it, if he thought that dog was still alive, then there was a chance it could be.

Kirk did what he had always done when he confronted with a choice. He thought of his father. He thought of a man who acted decisively and courageously in the face of certain death, if he had hesitated one moment thinking of regulations, letting something besides the situation dictate his actions then over eight-hundred people would not have survived. Like his father, Kirk believed that you let the situation determine your actions; you make a choice and figure out the rest on the way, so he went with his gut.

He evaluated the situation. This was a chance to leave Spock in a difficult position, to use McCoy's relieving him of duty to his advantage, and he knew that particular space station was on the edge of Orion space, which meant Orion slave girls.

"Alright Scotty, let's do this."

Scotty beamed, and then realized what Kirk had said. "What do you mean by let's?"

Kirk smiled and slapped him on the shoulder, "I'm coming with you."

* * *

**Next...**

How did that dog wind up in the Borderlands...a little techno babble to explain.

How will Spock and Bones react to yet another impulsive Jim Kirk excursion...expect some eye rolling.

Can you go looking for a lost dog and wind up over your head in trouble? With Kirk and Scotty? You bet!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Notes:** It seems I need to clear something up. This is a direct quote from **Star Trek Memory Alpha:**

On Delta Vega, Montgomery Scott mentions that he had used "Admiral Archer's prized beagle" to test his long-distance transporter theories, though the beagle had yet to turn up as of his meeting with Kirk and Spock Prime (which he speculated led to his "exile"). Writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have confirmed that this line was a reference to Jonathan Archer.[168][169] Jonathan Archer would be 145 years old at the time of Scotty's exile, but humans are long-lived in Star Trek; Orci noted the appearance of Leonard McCoy in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint".

If Archer is 145 years old, then Porthos, his dog on the Enterprise is DUST by now. The dog in question is in the breeding line of Porthos his name is Toby. I hope this will preclude anymore protests. Thanks for caring though.

The information in this chapter about Scotty is as accurate as a fictitious man's biography can be. I am making some stretches such as his undiagnosed ADHD, but seriously the way Simon Pegg portrayed him, he's got to have that issue! LOL!

Bear also in mind that I tend to use a non-linear story telling devices, so pay attention to the headings. This first little bit ties in to the previous chapter, then we jump ahead 46 hours, then back to just after their meeting in Kirk's quarters. I hope this does not confuse.

Keep the momentum going!

Enjoy!

**Bart**

* * *

**Star Trek 2009  
**

**Did Someone Lose a Dog?**

**Part 2**

_**LAST TIME…**_

_He evaluated the situation. This was a chance to leave Spock in a difficult position, to use McCoy's relieving him of duty to his advantage, and he knew that particular space station was on the edge of Orion space, which meant Orion slave girls. _

"_Alright Scotty, let's do this."_

_Scotty beamed, and then realized what Kirk had said. "What do you mean by let's?"_

_Kirk smiled and slapped him on the shoulder, "I'm coming with you."_

----------------------

**46 hours later…**

Kirk stuck his head over the Duranium crate only to get it nearly blow off again by an Orion disruptor blast.

He glanced over to Scotty. His Chief Engineer was nodding off again…considering the man probably had a severe concussion…that was not a good sign.

"Scotty!" Kirk hissed, "Stay with me! Work on that Com signal, we need to signal Enterprise before those Klingons get here!"

The little brown and tan dog, resting safe in Scotty's arms, tried to help by giving Scotty a lick on the side of his neck. Scotty's eyes popped back open. "Sorry lads…how long was I out?"

"Just get that Com signal going Mr. Scott, we've got to warn them," Kirk replied.

He tried to glance over the crate, once again, and get the lay of the hanger bay, and nearly got his hair parted.

Pinned down good; all they could do now was wait until the USS Enterprise sprang the trap, and hope its crew figured it out.

Kirk sighed, "I hate being bait."

--------------------

**46 hours earlier…**

"You're doing what?" Bones blurted.

They were having a small meeting on the bridge. Bones had a spy on the bridge that notified him that Kirk was back, because he arrived soon after with a hypospray full of tranquilizer. Jim had made a note to find out who squealed, his money was on Uhura.

Bones was not taking the news of the side mission very well.

Kirk knew if he introduced the idea, it would be shot down as being typically random Jim Kirk madness, so he deferred to Scotty.

Spock had yet to speak, standing quietly with one eyebrow cocked reserving judgment. Uhura, however, was giving Jim the look that he had seen on her face quiet frequently since he had known her. It was her, _I am not impressed_, glower.

Scotty began to pass out the PADDs to everyone but Chekov.

"I think you all know tha story of how I wound up on Delta Vega. Well the thing that always bothered me was that the math was right. That lil doggy should have showed up on the teleporter pad on Jupiter Station. I doubted myself for a long time, I checked and rechecked my calculations and I always got the same result."

He paused as if distracted for a moment. It was typical Scotty, the man was not only hyper, but he had the attention span of a humming bird.

"Anyway, my first real breakthrough came when that pointy eared fella that looks a bit like Mr. Spock showed up with Captain Kirk here, and gave me my future formula of transwarp beaming."

Spock finally spoke. "That was my future self Mister Scott. So, transwarp beaming is possible. That would clarify how you got back onto the ship, Captain. You never did explain."

Kirk smirked. "Well I would have, but I had your hand around my throat at the time."

Spock cocked and eyebrow. "That is understandable."

Kirk could not resist. "The hand around my throat, or the fact I was distracted from telling you?"

Spock was unscrupulous as always. "Both, as you were saying Chief Engineer Scott?"

Bones was glaring at Jim non-stop, and he still had that hypospray, so Kirk did his best not to acknowledge him.

Scotty started back. "Well I figured out that the doggy's signal must have gotten intercepted by another ship traveling across the transmission path, and the relativity curve took over, I was off in my calculations, because I didna realize that space was the thing that was movin at the time."

They had all forgotten Sulu was there until he spoke up. "Relativity curve?"

Chekov jumped in. "It ziz whaz happens when ze matter reaches ze speed of light, space itz zelf becoming more compressed, distances and probabilities change."

They all gaped at the teenager. Scott cleared his throat. "Yeah what tha lad said, the only way Toby's signal would not have reached Jupiter, is if he landed on a ship at warp crossing the event horizon."

Spock contributed. "Are you sure there was no subspace interference."

Scott looked impressed. "No, I checked surveys all along the path, no anomalies, no surges of radiation, or even comets passed that way, that was why it was always such a mystery. However, there is a race of beings that use that particular part of space to slip through the Galaxy undetected. They don't like being in Federation space and that area marks the one direct route across the system that does not pass within the sensor range of any Federation outposts. The Orions are not at war with the Federation, but their activities are frowned upon."

Uhura was aghast. "Frowned upon? They're slave traders! My question is how did you come by this information?"

Scotty suddenly got fidgety. "I was engineering adviser on freight lines between the Deneva colony and the outlying asteroid belts before I joined Starfleet. It's a different world out there, I developed some less than upstanding connections in the course of my job. One of my contacts knows the Orions very well. He also said that Orions tend to collect pets they encounter."

Uhura made a derisive sound. "Yeah they're called men."

Bones finally got in his two cents turning attention back to Kirk. "Promise me that this hair-brained trip to an unfederated space station on the edge of no-man's land has nothing to do with Orion slave girls?"

Kirk did his best to look appalled. "I am making this trip in support of my Chief Engineer. Besides, you relieved me of my command for at least twenty-four hours. Told me to rest up, you never specified where."

Bones looked ready to tranq him then and there. "You know what I meant you slimey lil bastard."

Kirk grinned. "Bones...language." He nodded in Chekov's direction. "Not around the kids." Chekov just looked pleased to be acknowledged.

Scott cleared his throat again bringing the subject back to the matter at hand. "How did the doggy wind up on tha space station? Glad you asked. I might be a genius, but I am dreadful at Inter-stellar Cartography, fortunately we have the resident expert in the entire fleet on this ship." He nodded in Chekov's direction. "He's a bright lad, a bit o' an accent though."

Chekov glowered; showing the irony of Scotty's comment was not lost on him, and then took his queue. "From the information given to me my Mizter Scott, I was able to triangulate the pathway taken by ze mystery wessel, it would have meandered through four more zyztems before docking at ze station in question."

Scotty rolled his eyes, "He might be indecipherable at times, and has no taste for Scotch, but he's good at what he does. I had Mister Spock double check the trajectory."

Spock nodded.

Bones turned on him. "You knew about this?" He accused belligerently.

Spock nodded. "I knew about Mister Scott's determination to locate the animal. However, I did not anticipate that the Captain of this vessel would illogically opt to leave at such an inopportune moment. Any blame I may carry is that I do not know to anticipate or fathom the depths of the Captain's impetuosity."

Bones spun on Kirk. "We are due to rendezvous with the Constellation in a matter of days, and you're trying to make an intergalactic booty call. Unbelievable!"

Kirk looked appalled. "Surely you don't think I would do such a thing."

Uhura's arms crossed. "Oh, you think we don't remember Gaila?"

Scotty turned to her. "Who is Gaila?"

Uhura glowered. "Oh she was my Academy roommate, she was an Orion and an amazing computer programmer by the way; Kirk had a booty call with her the day before he cheated on the Kobayashi Maru test. I found mouth-breather over there eyeballing me in my underwear from under her bed."

Kirk sighed. "It was never established that I cheated."

Spock raised an eyebrow at that last statement. "This is all very...fascinating...but I need to know what to tell Commodore Decker when he wishes to know why this vessel's Captain is delaying the proceedings to investigate a hunch."

Kirk shrugged. "Just tell him that a member of a very influential Starfleet family has been missing, and we have found evidence they might still be alive, and we've gone to investigate."

Spock nodded. "It is the truth, and yet twisted beyond all reason, it would never work on a Vulcan, but a human might accept it."

Sulu had been absorbing all the information, the young man's brain was sorting through all the implications. He never spoke unless he had something important to say, so when he contributed they all stopped. "Is this space station safe? Do your contacts reach that far Mister Scott?"

Scotty grinned. "It's tha G'Nai Space Station, my friend runs the place. He's an Andorian, his name is Dahras. We've been through some scrapes together, I trust him with me life."

Bones scoffed. "Andorian? You know what they say about Andorian promises."

Kirk grinned. "Yeah, anyone got the time?"

Scotty glared at them. "Dahras can be unpredictable, but he owes me, an Andorian will honor their debts, if nothing else. I've always been honest with him, they prize that above all other qualities. I helped him build that blasted station, he'll help. If tha doggy ever set foot in that station, he'd know about it."

Kirk slapped his hands together. "Well if that's it, we've got to get to the shuttle, times wasting."

Bones glowered. "Come down to sickbay, I need to inoculate you against Orion female pheromones or we'll be rescuing you, and you'll be fighting us the whole way!"

As they all turned to go, Kirk touched Spock's shoulder. "I want you to know, I had no idea Uhura was seeing someone, I hope there's no hard feelings."

Spock was impassive as always, but Kirk could detect a hint of smugness. "Why should I have hard feelings. I'm not the one that needed to hide under a bed."

Kirk glared. "You are a smug bastard aren't you."

Spock glanced at Uhura who was organizing her workstation inadvertently showing off her body to best advantage. He looked back at Kirk with a small smile. "Yes I am."

The rest of the hour went quickly as Kirk and Scott loaded the shuttle, Magellan, with some supplies, and bribes essential for dealing with an Andorian. Kirk gave Spock some last minute orders while Scott fought off his cabbage-headed alien buddy, Keenser who always wanted to come with him everywhere.

"If I don't get back in time, Spock, go ahead and kick Decker's ass for me," he said slapping Spock's shoulder as he passed. Spock just raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

"Get out!" Scott bellowed shoving Keenser back out the door. Then they departed with Kirk piloting.

-

Kirk never realized how little he knew about his Chief Engineer, the man was so gregarious that it was easy to forget he never talked about himself.

Kirk had little to do so he watched the engineer as he put his feet up on the console, leaned back and took a sip out of a flask. He offered it to Kirk. It reminded Jim of the first time he met Bones. He took a sip, instead of the Bourbon Bones kept around, it was filled with very strong Scotch, which caused him to cough.

Scotty took the flask back rolling his eyes. "You space boys canna handle your liquor. Doctor McCoy could drink me under tha table though."

Kirk grimaced. "What do you use to mix that stuff, nacelle acid?"

Scotty looked offended as he put his flask away. "Plebeian."

They crossed the expanse; it was a half an hour before they reached hailing distance of the station. Kirk had engaged Scott in tales from his own farm boy past to see if he could draw the engineer out to tell more about himself.

"Grew up in Aberdeen," Scotty said, "was born in Elgin though. For the first years of me life they all thought I was daft. I sat around dreaming all day, never would stay in one place longer than a minute."

He trailed off. Kirk waited for his thought processes to come back, there was a trick to dealing with Scotty, he was learning them slowly, but letting the genius chase rabbits in his head was the primary one when talking to him.

He snapped back to the here and now. "Anyway, there was talk of holdin me back a year, because I was last in me class in every subject. Then the teacher took the doodles he saw at the margins of my test screen to a friend of his, a warp engineer in Glastonbury, and found out I was teaching meself quantum theory, and had managed to disprove Tucker's third law of warp dynamics."

Scotty chuckled. "Needless to say I didna stay in school long."

Kirk was about to ask some follow up questions when his console beeped.

Scotty checked it. "We're being hailed by the station." Kirk nodded. "Put it on screen.

The screen lit up and a blue-skinned man with antenna and white hair was lounging in an opulent chair. He did not look amused. "Montgomery Scott, you pink-skinned scotch imbibing parasite."

Kirk frowned. "I thought you said you were friends."

Scotty ignored him answering, "Dahras, you blue-skinned, ice sucking Tellarite mud bath dweller."

The Andorian suddenly broke out in a bright smile. "It's about time you drug your lazy carcass out to see me. I'm disappointed you never invited me to come to Delta Vega, you know I used to summer there!"

Kirk frowned. "Delta Vega…summer…that place was a glacier!"

Scott shot Kirk a look. "Shut it... sir."

He turned back to the Andorian. "While I'm on your station, I'll see how bad you mucked up those systems I designed."

Dahras smirked. "We'll see when you get here; I think I may have made some improvements."

Scotty scoffed and cut the link.

Kirk mulled over the exchange. "He seemed friendly."

Scotty glanced at him then back out at the passing stars. "He was off, that was almost polite. I'm gonna rig a subspace emergency beacon to the Enterprise, just in case there's trouble."

Kirk watched as the engineer passed him on the way to the back.

"That was polite?"

-

They had nearly passed out of the system, when Uhura shot up in her seat. She was trying to clear up some static, when she caught a stray word underneath. She ran it though the computer filters, then abandoned them by running resonance scans on the signal by hand, she isolated the spikes and cleared away the surrounding white noise. Finally, she listened and fine tuned the aspects of aural structure before running it back through the computer filters.

"Commander Spock."

Spock came over, strolling casually. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

She gave him a little glare for his cold use of protocol, but he did not even crack a smile. "As we left that system, I caught a stray bit of static for a split second. It was a carrier wave frequency piggybacked onto a subspace anomaly."

He gave her his _I'm being patient, but get on with it_, eyebrow quirk.

She sighed and switched over to the speakers and let him hear it. It sounded somewhat garbled, but the rough tone and aggressive speech pattern was still distinctive.

Spock's brilliant mind caught on to the implications immediately. "Send a message to Commodore Decker, it looks as if we may be even later than we thought."

She worked at her console. "I've got him, putting him on the view screen now.

Decker was lounging in his chair on a bridge that looked a little less state of the art than Enterprise. He was a large blond haired man graying at the temples. His intense blue eyes did not look happy. "I was expecting to see the kid, Spock, what are you doing in the chair."

Spock stood ramrod stiff his hands behind his back. "Captain Kirk is currently on a rescue mission, in his absence, however we have discovered an embedded Klingon communication, I have made the decision to trace the source."

Decker rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You know Spock, if you came in Kirk's place, and won this engagement, it would go a long way to putting you back in that chair were you belong."

Spock stiffened at the implication. He heard the bridge go quiet; he knew all eyes were on him. He was amazed to feel a twinge of anger. He decided to go with it.

"Our orders were to engage you to the best of our ability. At present we are not at our best, Captain Kirk happens to be the most unorthodox, yet undeniably brilliant tactical leader I have ever studied, you are included in that number. When he gets back from his mission, we will be ready, not before. It appears to me that you are requesting to engage this vessel in a weakened state. That would appear to imply a lack of confidence in your own. I hope I am mistaken."

Decker glared at the taciturn man hard enough to stun like a phaser. "You have four more days, Decker out." He cut the transmission abruptly.

Spock turned to see that Bones had come onto the bridge sometime during the exchange and was now eying him like he had developed a forehead protrusion.

"Did you just call Jim…" he stopped unable to continue.

Spock nodded. "It would be best if this was not repeated in the Captain's presence."

Bones shrugged. "Don't worry about me, I'm the last guy to tell Jim Kirk he's good at something. He usually takes care of that himself, anyway."

"Commander," Uhura called.

Spock turned to her, he did not like the tone she was using. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

She looked grim. "I think the reason I had such a hard time figuring out the signal, is because it was sent by a Klingon using Andorian coded technology. The origin was stationary and in the previous system. There is only one location in that sector of space."

Spock turned to Sulu. "Mister Sulu lay in a course to the G'Nai space station, warp factor 2, if this is a trap, I do not want to spring it.

"Aye."

Spock turned to a grumbling Bones. "You may want to get the Captain's usual bio bed prepped Doctor."

Bones nodded. "I always keep it empty."

He left as Spock settled into the Captain's chair.

Uhura came over, she resisted touching him, because she knew he liked to maintain discipline. He turned to her, his face neutral. "Klingons and Andorians cooperating, this is not good."

She flashed him a quick smile. "Understatement, baby."

* * *

**Next...**

How far does this conspiracy reach?

Will the Enterprise get there in time?

What happens when an Orion slave girl gets a hold of an Andorian's antenna?


	3. Chapter 3

Not to all who wanted to read an end to this fiction. I have never abandoned one to oblivion yet and I do not intend to start now. I apologize for the delay I have no excuse except that this is an extremely complicated format and requires a clear direction to finish and I have not had that until recently. This and one more chapter will complete this fiction.

Oh and btw for all the helpful people who are going to insist on reminding me that Admiral Archer's dog is named Porthos...this is nearly eighty years after that dog became dust, this dog is the great (add a few more grands) grand dog of Porthos and his name is Toby.

Thank you for hanging in there!

**Bart**

* * *

**Star Trek**

**Did Someone Lose a Dog?**

**Part 3**

_**LAST TIME…**_

_Spock turned to Sulu. "Mister Sulu lay in a course to the G'Nai space station, warp factor two, if this is a trap, I do not want to spring it._

"_Aye."_

_Spock turned to a grumbling Bones. "You may want to get the Captain's usual bio bed prepped Doctor."_

_Bones nodded. "I always keep it empty." _

_He left as Spock settled into the Captain's chair._

_Uhura came over, she resisted touching him, because she knew he liked to maintain discipline. He turned to her, his face neutral. "Klingons and Andorians cooperating, this is not good."_

_She flashed him a quick smile. "Understatement, baby."_

-0-_  
_

_**Two Hours from now…**_

McCoy growled, "We can't stay in this nebula Jim, the inoculations only work so long before the entire crew becomes crispy critters."

Jim turned to Spock. "How long until the radiation breaks through our shields?"

"Twenty-three minutes and thirty-three seconds, Captain, of course that is an estimate."

Jim rolled his eyes at the precision his pointy-eared first officer used routinely, "Estimate, my ass." He turned back to the view screen as if he could see through it to the cloaked Klingon Vessels. "Well at least they are not mining the nebula."

An explosion off their port bow suddenly rocked the ship. McCoy grumbled. "You were saying?"

Jim sighed. "Damn those Andorians."

-0-

_**Two Hours Before…**_

Kirk and Scotty had been received at the Space Station eagerly and were met as soon as their shuttle docked. There had been a short tour of the state of the art facility, and then they were escorted to a feast in their honor, resting on cushions in a dining room more in keeping with a palace than a space station, the elaborate motif inspired by Orion slave-owner customs.

Draped with opulent fabrics in rare and expensive colors; the room had tables were low inviting the partakers to lounge on mattresses. Green skinned beauties wandered in and out with plates of food to add to the already bountiful collection. There were two of the females dancing suggestively on raised platforms within their line of sight. Two more of the ravishing creatures seemed to think it was their sole purpose to feed Scotty and Kirk.

It was all very distracting, a fact which made Kirk's skin crawl. Scotty seemed oblivious to anything amiss, but Kirk noticed that he had taken little of the food and wine that was proffered. Considering the engineer's legendary appetite, not eating was an indication the man was aware of something wrong. Kirk still did not know Scotty well enough to be one-hundred percent sure he was reading the man correctly, but he was sure if they were to get out of this, he would have to trust his readiness soon enough.

Dahras was sophisticated and aristocratic for an Andorian, with bright blue skin and carefully styled white hair, wearing clothes more in keeping with Orion traditions than those from his home moon, and he was very eager and friendly. He and Scotty bantered back in forth sharing stories from life on the rim of Federation space.

"…And then that crazy pink-skin turns to me and said…You know...I don think they like off-worlders kissing their daughters. And I said…"

"What gave it away, the beating, or the fact they dangled us upside down over a Karlac pit?" Scotty finished with a chuckle.

Kirk laughed dutifully, he noticed that tall muscular Orion males, who made no effort to hide their weapons, manning all the exits.

Dahras was cheerfully offering to refill their glasses but Scotty begged off. Dahras glanced around. "I know you are here seeking information concerning Admiral Archer's dog, I've sent for someone who might know, but she's not here yet."

"Here I am love," said a purring alto voice from the direction of the door. The statuesque green lady swept in dramatically, and in her arms was a small black and tan animal with a jeweled collar.

"Toby!" Scotty called out, any caution he might have had lost in the excitement of the moment. The little dog had looked listless and resigned in the woman's arms but upon hearing Scotty's voice, he began to squirming and whining. The Orion female ignored his efforts, kissed him on his head as she walked over to Dahras settling in beside him at the table. He smiled at her as if she was the star he was orbiting.

"As you can see, my dearest Ligilia is overly fond of the little animal, I'm afraid I cannot ask her to part from it.

Scotty's face turned red with anger. Dahras laughed. "Ah yes, I see the pink comes out yet again."

Kirk felt the mood in the room shift. Trying not to be obvious, he reached to his belt and touched a communicator that Scotty had rigged. The distress beacon in the shuttle activated.

Suddenly there was a beep and Dahras checked what looked like a modified tri-corder. "Finally, the charade is over! At last, if I had to smile anymore my antenna was going to fall off!"

Kirk suddenly felt cold. "What charade?"

Ligilia laughed. "I like him Dahras, are you sure I can't keep him?" Dahras rolled his eyes. "If the Klingons leave anything worth having, he's all yours," he said with a tolerant sigh.

"You betrayed us." Scotty remarked his voice matter of fact but his hand clenched so tightly around the goblet he was holding that his knuckles were white.

Kirk began to go for his Phaser, but he felt an Orion disruptor placed at the base of his skull, a patient hand extended over his shoulder. He and Scotty handed their weapons over, placed into Orion slave restraints.

"Canna least know why?" Scotty demanded.

Dahras shrugged, "Vulcan is gone, the one species that kept Andoria from taking her rightful place in the galaxy, the Federation is crippled, now is the time for new alliances. Orion funds, Andorian tatics, allied with Klingon weaponry, this is just the first strike. "

"You planned this all along?" Kirk blurted out.

Dahras sipped his wine. "What I planned, and what fortuitously fell into my lap are irrelevant at this point. I knew who the dog was from the ident chip, and I knew why Scotty had been exiled. I kept the dog here expecting him to eventually figure it out and come for it, but suddenly he is the chief engineer of the newest flagship vessel in the fleet. That raised the stakes significantly. I have done all I could to prepare since he sent me a com two days ago asking about Orion shipping lines."

Scotty tensed up. "You knew I like to rig a remote beacon when I go into situation I'm na sure of, that's why you were acting so nice, which for you is suspicious, to get us to activate it."

Kirk let out a breath he was not aware he was holding. "A general distress beacon, and they couldn't be sure what Federation ship shows up, but a shuttle distress beacon has one direction. We're not the target, the Enterprise is."

Scotty's voice rang out in a tone that made Kirk flinch. "You miscalculated, Dahras, you took a good friend and turned him inta a very bad enemy, I'll nah forget this."

Dahras did not answer he just smiled and took another sip of wine.

"Ligilia, be a love, make sure they are docile, and then please take them to the holding cell." She made her way around the table, the subtle pheromones that the Orion females had been giving off increased, Scotty got a glassy-eyed look on his face, she caressed his cheek and arched a finger for him to follow; Kirk did his best acting job and stood as well. The only advantage he and Scotty still had was that Dahras did not know that Bones had inoculated them before they left Enterprise. That was some time ago though, Kirk hoped it did not wear off.

He bumped into Scotty as they made the corridor. "I'll take the two guards, distract her, shove me," he murmured hoping he read his shipmate correctly.

"Get off!" Scotty bellowed as he put a shoulder into Kirk propelling him into the closest Orion guard. He turned and blocked Kirk's actions. "I wanna know right now, who yer gonna be with, him or me?"

Ligilia looked as if she was used to men fighting over her, she barely blinked as she leaned close and said, "You of course."

Scotty smiled. "Sorry, I canna stand a two-timing lass," after he said that, with an accuracy born of years of Glasgow pub brawls, he head butted her square in the forehead, catching the little beagle as she collapsed.

Almost immediately, he saw stars and had to lean on the wall for support, Toby happily licked his cheeks. "There's a lad, I missed ya too," he murmured trying to stay upright through the bright spots and threatening blackness.

Kirk caught his arm. "Why did you do that for, an Orion female has a thicker skull than a human."

Scotty shook his head to clear the cobwebs. "That'd been good ta know a minute ago."

He saw that Kirk was free of the restraints and armed with an Orion stun blaster, his two guards insentient on the corridor floor. "How did ya manage tha, now?"

Kirk grinned. "I know how to get out of handcuffs from seven different worlds, don't ask, can you rig a Com signal to warn the Enterprise?"

Scotty fended off Toby's exuberant tongue blinking a little too rapidly. "Just get me to the shuttle; I can use tha external antennae array."

Kirk took a disruptor off one of the guards and took Scotty's arm over his shoulder as they made their way up the corridor. He was hoping to get back to the shuttle bay before someone sounded the alarm. They got down the next corridor before the first claxon rang out.

"I don know why they gotta be so loud," Scotty complained.

Kirk sighed, "Let's go get tha wee doggy, he said, jes a trip there and back…"

-0-

**Aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise…**

"Any sign of a cloaked Bird of Prey?" Spock inquired as he spun in the chair. Chekov was using his science station to scan.

"No Tetryon radiation trailz yet, but ze ztation just vent to red alert," he replied looking through the view finder.

Spock folded his fingers under his chin as he considered the scans that Chekov had placed on the main viewer. "Mister Chekov, keep an eye on that nebula near the second planet from the sun, if I were a cloaked Bird of Prey that is where I would hide, as they emerge there should be a streamer that follows in their wake, we can determine their path from that."

"Are you out of your Vulcan mind, the radiation in that nebula would fry any ship in there," McCoy grumbled from his left.

Spock spun around to give the tall man a tolerant eyebrow. "Andoran tatics, Doctor, Klingons have a simple philosophy of battle, cloak to approach, uncloak at the penultimate moment of attack, Andorans use deception and subterfuge, they never approach from the front if they can track from the back, that nebula's radiation is at tolerable levels at the corona where they are undoubtedly hiding…"

"Mizter Zpock, I have one ztreamer forming," Chekov called his voice high pitched and excited.

Spock allowed himself a small smile as he instructed Chekov, "Plot their path, Mister Chekov, give me a heading."

McCoy glowered at him. "Smug, arrogant…" he grumbled before trailing off crossing his arms in disgust.

"Estimate the closing time, Mister Chekov, it has to be accurate to the second," Spock called as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"Of course it needz to be accurate…otherwise whaz the point…" Chekov grumbled as he used the stylus rapidly going through spacial coordinates. Sulu was the only near enough to hear and he cracked a wry smile.

"Less mumbling and more calculating would be a better tact, Mister Chekov," Spock informed as he launched out of the captain's chair and strolled to the science station.

Sulu and Chekov exchanged a look.

"Eighteen minutes…twelve seconds…thirty-eight micronz, Mizter Spock!" Chekov called.

Spock cracked an eyebrow at the accuracy then bent back to his task. "Acting Chief Engineer Marco," he said after tapping his com badge.

"Marco here," was the reply.

"I need you to vent plasma behind the ship, twenty-eight milliliters per vent should be sufficient; then I am going to need a triggering mechanism available within the next fifteen minutes, you have been insisting to me that you are the better engineer than Mister Scott and should have been made Chief, this is your opportunity to prove it," Spock instructed with a rapid tap of two different key pads with either hand.

"Fifteen minutes might not be sufficient, sir, can you extend that to thirty," Marco replied with a tone of exasperation.

"Considering we are just under twenty minutes from annihilation, I will have to decline the change in interval, I suggest you forgo any further protests," Spock stated as he brought up two different screens.

McCoy leaned in. "McCoy here, what my pointy-eared associate is trying to say, Bonner, is shut up and get your ass in gear and get it done in fifteen or we're all space dust, understand?"

"Y-yes sir," Marko stammered then shut off the connect ion barking orders.

"Thank you," Spock stated with a cocked eyebrow.

McCoy sighed. "Don't mention it…ever…I insist."

Spock sent a command from his console, and suddenly the main view screen was showing simulations of two Klingon Birds of Prey on approach. "Mister Chekov, for future reference, look for any overlapping trails next time, another Bird of Prey was hidden in the wake of the first."

"Yez zir," Chekov replied his voice picking up a small quaver as he saw the intimidating sight.

"Mister Spock, I am picking up increased communication between the space station and the cloaked Birds of Prey, I picked out the Andorian word for escaped, and air lock, I think Kirk and Scotty must have made it back to the shuttle craft, that may be the place to retrieve them," Uhura called out her hands moving easily over the communication station, her monitor filled with displays of ambient signals.

"Triangulate the beacon," Spock called.

"If I were them, I'd use the beacon as bait," McCoy mumbled.

Spock quirked an eyebrow at the astute observation.

McCoy shrugged. "I was married, Mister Spock, that's a first rate education in underhanded tatics. Andorian's are amateurs compared to my ex-wife."

"Marriage as a tactical training resource…fascinating," Spock replied his face thoughtful.

"Mister Sulu, run the scanners over the bays, looking for one that gives off no return," Spock called out, crossing to the Nav station.

"I found one sir, I am willing to bet it has a jammer operating, and there will be no way to beam in or out unless they punch a signal through," Sulu informed his hands sending up the coordinates to a smaller screen on the Nav.

"Mister Chekov, in case they do get a signal out…" Spock began before he realized that the excitable young man was already across the bridge.

"On it, zir!" he called as he entered the lift.

"That boy needs a tranquilizer…but not today," McCoy said to himself in the way of a personal note.

"All we can do is hope that the Captain, and Chief Engineer Scott can punch through the interference in the next eight minutes, when we recover them, we will be vulnerable while they are beamed aboard I believe that will be when they attack, however the flash and heat caused by the ignited plasma should protect us from direct attack from behind, but it will damage the starboard nacelles, we need a place nearby we can reach quickly at impulse to initiate repairs. Mister Sulu plot in a course for that nebula, Doctor McCoy, you have some inoculations to distribute," Spock mused.

McCoy let out a sigh of exasperation as he crossed to the lift. "Oh really, Spock, do you think?" he called back as it closed.

Spock walked over to Uhura. "A soon as you get a signal, send it down to Mister Chekov," he said in a lower tone.

"On it, baby, "she replied clearing up the background noise. "They have them penned down, from what I am hearing."

Spock nodded.

She turned and gave him a reassuring smile. "They'll get the signal out, you know Jim Kirk, he always manages to screw up the best laid plans and be a pain in the ass."

Spock almost cracked a smile. "Indeed, that's what we are counting on."

-0-

_**Trapped in an airlock on the G'Nai Space Station…**_

Kirk stuck his head over the Duranium crate only to get it nearly blown off again by an Orion disruptor blast.

He glanced over to Scotty. His Chief Engineer was nodding off again…considering the man probably had a severe concussion…that was not a good sign.

"Scotty!" Kirk hissed, "Stay with me! Work on that Com signal, we need to signal Enterprise before those Klingons get here!"

The little brown and tan dog, resting safe in Scotty's arms, tried to help by giving Scotty a lick on the side of his neck. Scotty's eyes popped back open. "Sorry lads…how long was I out?"

"Just get that Com signal going Mr. Scott, we've got to warn them," Kirk replied.

He tried to glance over the crate, once again, and get the lay of the hanger bay, and nearly got his hair parted.

Pinned down good; all they could do now was wait until the USS Enterprise sprang the trap, and hope its crew figured it out.

Kirk sighed, "I hate being bait."

Scotty reached around the little pup his fingers working rapidly to rewire the signal array, even less than his best; he was still working at a pace beyond what Kirk thought was possible. Kirk was so fascinated that he nearly missed an Orion trying to flank their position.

He blew the tall green alien off the crate he was bracing against.

"Mister Scott, they are going to rush us pretty soon…if you could speed up…" he informed his tottering companion.

Scotty pulled off his own com badge, with a pop against the side of the shuttle he broke open the casing and used the bare leads from the shuttle and bent down over Toby, he pulling some gum out of his cheek that Kirk did not even see him chewing to fix it into place.

"Here we go…" he informed as he touched the trigger on the front of the badge, there was a squealching noise from inside of the shuttle.

"Damn," Scotty grumbled.

Kirk heard running footsteps and he glanced over the crate nearly taking a bolt in the forehead but enough to see that there was a tide of green and some heavily armed Klingons charging across the distance.

"Scotty…this is not going to be good…" he said reaching out to steady his engineer just before they were overwhelmed.

Scotty reached out and twisted a wire loose from the shuttle and plugged it into another outlet on the other side causing an odd hum. "We're not going out alone, you bet yer arse," he stated in a cold flat tone.

Kirk closed his eyes and waited for the stun bolt to hit.

-0-

Suddenly the floor of the bay felt different.

"Keptain Kirk!" he heard a familiar voice say.

"Chekov?"

He opened his eyes seeing the transporter bay. He grinned and slapped Scotty on the back causing the man to nearly tip over.

"Sorry," he murmured remembering his companion's state.

Chekov was literally dancing in place in excitement but Kirk waved for him to calm down.

The medical personnel helped him up but Scotty shook off their hands. "I'm fine, get off."

"Mister Scott, we're safe now, you need to go to sick bay," Kirk said in a quiet voice. The Scotsman's eyes found his, showing a glassy disorientation. "I'll go, but they're letting me keep the doggy."

"Agreed," Kirk replied.

He nodded to the medics and they helped his Chief Engineer up, one of the medics was a pretty brunette that Kirk knew as Ensign Barry, she cooed and petted Toby on the head which seemed to sooth Scotty, he let them lead him out talking to her about the little Beagle.

Suddenly Kirk heard what sounded like a distant explosion and the ship lurched but then he felt the distinctive sensation of the impulse engines engaging.

He tapped his com badge. "Status?"

"Welcome back aboard Captain, we have evaded the two Birds of Prey following us but at the cost of needed engine repairs before we can go to warp, at present we are entering a nearby nebula to hide. You will need a radiation inoculation," said Spock over the com in his normal uninflected voice.

"I suggest you get to the bridge as soon as possible."

"Very well, Kirk out," he replied slapping the com badge. "Good job on the transport, Chekov."

"Thank you Keptain," the boy replied beaming.

"If we survive the next hour or so, I'll see that it gets into the log," Kirk informed the boy with a wry smile as they exited into the corridor.

Chekov's look of disappointment at the prospect of that actually occurring showed just how dire their present circumstances were.

* * *

**Authors Note: **The conclusion will be posted later this next week. It is being written during Memorial Day, that one should be the conclusion so bear with me one more week.


End file.
